George's Words of Wisdom
by Obviously Procrastinating
Summary: The one time George actually gave good advice.


"Son," George began. "Let me tell you the secret to a perfect marriage." Derek had been slouching in his seat, chin resting against his palm after a long day of practice for his wedding the next day but when he heard those words, he perked up. After all, he had always been someone who wanted the reward without doing any of the work needed to get it. And hey, this wasn't his dad's first rodeo, so he must've learned something useful.

George turned away to face Nora and Marti, who were giggling and dancing to the radio that someone had forgotten to turn off after Derek and Hannah had finished their first dance run-through. As they hopped around acting silly, the older man's face softened until it was so full of love that Derek thought that for once his father might actually have the answer.

After turning back to Derek and confirming that he had his full attention, he let it spill. "You have to be with someone who makes you want to skip work." The brown eyed boy blinked, unsure of where his father was going with this. "That may sound dumb but it's the truest thing I could tell you. You have to be with someone who makes you remember that there are other things to life.

"Me and your mother, we never worked because I couldn't give up my job for her. I was consumed with the need to get ahead. It felt like the world was one sick day away from falling apart." George shifted his attention to his steepled fingers in front of him. "I loved her, but I wasn't willing to slow down for her. For Nora, I'd take a demotion. She's made me realize that there's more to life than work. A little demotion wouldn't mean anything in the scheme of things as long as I had her by my side. I guess what I'm trying to say in this long roundabout way is that you should make sure you're marrying someone who shows you that there's more."

It was at this moment that Derek's soon to be wife Hannah popped up over his shoulder, bending over to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Everything alright over here? You guys look so serious," she chirped. George gave her a small smile and went to stand. "Just giving my boy a little marriage advice," he stated. He gave Derek a clap on the shoulder and muttered, "just think about what I said, okay?" The brunet felt his face scrunch up as he carefully weighed his father's words. "Well that wasn't cryptic at all," breathed Hannah. "Are you ready to go?" He nodded, and they left with the promise to see everyone the next morning.

Later that night Derek couldn't sleep. He could have blamed it on nerves or the caffeine he had drank hours earlier, but deep down he knew it was because of his father's advice. The older man had somehow managed to turn Derek's whole world upside down in the span of five minutes. While the headstrong man almost never listened to his father, he realized that maybe, just this once, George might've been on to something. Derek loved Hannah but if he had to choose between her and his job… well it certainly wasn't going to be the pretty blonde who won.

As he continued to toss and turn throughout the night, he contemplated his father's words. Was there anyone he would put above hockey? At one time he might've said Sally. He was willing to leave his family and home for her after all, so a job probably wouldn't have fazed him either. But that was years ago. He was no longer that dumb, rebellious, love-sick boy. Now the only people he could imagine giving up his NHL career for were Smarti and… Casey? He suppressed the wave of nausea that went through his body before deciding that he should probably investigate that thought a little more. The rest of his (love)life was on the line here. Letting out a long-suffering sigh, he decided to move his moping to the kitchen. At least then he could have a beer while examining the thought of the bane of his existence also being the love of his life.

After grabbing that aforementioned beer, Derek propped his forehead against his fist, looking every bit the part of the confused lover. His thoughts were tumultuous, but he had to somehow figure this out before tomorrow morning. Or, er, in less than seven hours ( _when had that happened,_ he wondered). First thing first, when the hell had she become that important to him? Their lives had been hopelessly entwined since they were fifteen, but he had almost always thought that it was against his will. If it had been up to him they never would have been "related". At first it was because she was a giant pain in the ass. Always stealing the bathroom or invading his privacy. And she took up so much room, with her school books and her dance practices. Even when she hadn't physically been around she had been taking up space in his mind. If he wasn't thinking of how to make a fool out of her, he was just contemplating her as a person. Because really, you couldn't be that good at pranking someone without having intimate knowledge of how they functioned. But then later on, as they got older and closer, he didn't want to be related to her for more carnal reasons. Every little thing she did got him turned on. Jesus, at his lowest point he couldn't even snack on a banana without imagining her seductively eating it. So, he pushed her away. It was too hard to act like he hated her when he was thinking about kissing her every second of the damned day. But even that had felt wrong. So, after a short period of about two weeks of ignoring her when they were twenty, they were back to being inseparable.

If you put a gun up to his head, Derek would say that this was when he had really fallen for Casey (a thought that was still making him kind of queasy). Now that they weren't sworn enemies fighting to be the dominant sibling in their overcrowded household, they could actually relax around each other. It had honestly been the best time of his life. And then James came into the picture. Perfect, brown hair, blue eyes James who just couldn't decide if he should become a doctor or a lawyer. And wouldn't you know it, Casey had been facing that same dilemma. God, it couldn't get any cheesier if it had been written for the Hallmark channel. In Derek's opinion their relationship was weird because they were basically the same person (and, really, wasn't that just _boring?_ ) but to everyone else they were perfect.

So instead of confronting his feelings (you know, like any grown man who was in love with his step-sister should) he let himself drown in his new (at the time) girlfriend Hannah. Hannah, who was blonde and had green eyes and smelled like peppermint and was basically the antithesis of Casey. They had met in a communications class and she seemed to have the word distraction written on her in permanent marker. Somehow what had started as a fling became something a lot more serious (at least to her) and now they were here.

So, this brought Derek to thought-train number two. Why hadn't he just let himself love her? She had James, yeah, but it wasn't like he was going to be around forever. She had a terrible track record with relationships and he knew (just like he knew the sky was blue) that this one wasn't going to last either. Maybe it was because he had been scared. Nobody really rooted for step-siblings to get together. He could lie and say that he hadn't wanted to disappoint his dad and Nora, but really, he couldn't have given less of a flying fuck about what they thought. No, if he was being completely honest, he hadn't let himself wait for Casey because he was terrified that she would never see him that way. She had called him a cad a few times too many for him to think that she thought of him romantically. Truthfully, he just hadn't wanted to be alone.

And really, it was great that he could now pin down when and why this had happened, but what was he going to do about it? He was getting married in what was now six hours and he didn't have a damn clue about what to do. For the first time in his life, Derek Venturi was completely and totally lost.

Was there really anything else to do besides get in his car and drive the ten minutes it took to get to Casey's apartment? Maybe, but he wasn't about to take that path. Nobody could help him like his step-sister could. She had always been his compass, the one pointing him in the right direction. Even if he couldn't give her the full details of his inner torture (when did he become a thirteen-year-old girl?), he could at least count on her to give him some solid advice. What he could not count on, apparently, was himself to not fuck everything up within the span of five minutes.

After peeking through her peephole, Casey decided that she should let Derek in. It may have been 3 a.m. the night (morning?) before his wedding, but she knew as well as anyone that a breakdown could happen at any time. "Derek, I swear to God if you interrupted my beauty sleep, on the night before you get married nonetheless, for anything less than a death I will personally tear each of your limbs…"

"Casey, I think I'm in love with you."

"…off and I will- What?" What? How dare he think that he could come into her territory and ruin everything. Because that's what he was doing right? This was just some sick prank, hopefully. He had spent thousands on his wedding and he couldn't just toss it away now because he had cold feet. She may not have liked Hannah, but she still deserved better than that. Apparently, Casey had been saying all of this out loud because he was now shaking his head at her, looking a little disappointed.

"No, Casey. I'm _in love_ with you. Christ, I think I'm gonna be sick."

Honestly, she felt a little ill too. For the last ten years all she had wanted was to hear those words from his mouth and now he was tainting them by saying them to her afew hours before he married someone else. Did he ever think of anyone other than himself? This was supposed to be her angsty romance too.

Also, this wasn't going the way she expected it to at all. She had made all these plans for the rest of their lives and now he was going off script. On the off-chance that he did tell her he loved her, plan D said that she should have had at least another twelve years before he confessed (she had factored in five years of marriage, five years for him to get over the divorce, and then another two before he actually told her he loved her). She didn't have any guidelines for what to do if he told her the _night before his wedding._ In fact, she had almost come to terms with her unrequited love. Sure, there wouldn't be anyone else like him, but he was terrible about half the time anyway. Always poking fun at her, calling her names and making sexist jokes (now that she thought about it, why did she love him in the first place?).

"You can't do this now, Derek! I was supposed to have another twelve years," she wailed. Derek felt his face scrunch up in confusion before letting the statement slide. She was, after all, Casey. She wasn't made to make sense.

"Well you're just going to have to suck it up, princess, because I'm not taking it back." He crossed his arms defiantly. "Now, are you going to let me in or not? I'd rather not do this in the hallway." Even though Casey was in the midst of a meltdown she moved aside to let him in. He rolled his eyes before pushing in, still not eager to deal with this mess but also slowly coming to terms with it. It had always been easier to deal with his own emotions while trying to keep Casey from going off the tracks. It took all the pressure off of him. Derek continued through her apartment to the kitchen, with her wringing her hands and trailing after him.

"Tell me exactly how you got here. Maybe it was a mistake? If we backtrack together, we'll find that it's all just a big misunderstanding and you don't really mean it," she stated hopefully. He finished filling her teapot with water and put it on the stove before answering her. "It's not a mistake, Case. I wouldn't have told you if I thought it was." She slumped down at her dining table, in a pose similar to the one he had held in his own kitchen. "What do we do then?" came her muffled reply. He rolled his eyes again before responding to her. "Well, I, personally, would love to hear your thoughts on the subject."

It was then that Casey realized she hadn't responded to his declaration. At least in a way that was more productive than freaking out. She could still somehow salvage this situation. She could still be the selfless heroine. The wedding would go on!

"I love you too." Shit. That wasn't how she had meant to respond. She was supposed to give him a patronizing smile and a pat on the back while telling him that she didn't feel the same way. What was she doing?

Whatever it was, she must have been doing it right because the smile Derek gave her almost knocked her off her stool. "We still have a little problem, Der. What're we going to do about your wedding?"

He turned his attention back to the screeching kettle. The noise it was making matched the one in his brain. He liked Hannah and he didn't want to let her down, but he couldn't go through with their wedding now. It wouldn't be fair to them or to Casey. He couldn't let the opportunity to mess with Casey pass though. He was still Derek after all.

"Oh, I still plan on getting married." Casey was suddenly very glad he wasn't facing her. There was no way she would've been able to hide the look of shock and hurt that had been openly expressed on her face before she had managed to control herself.

She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and went to push herself off the table. "Well, I'm going back to bed then. Make sure you clean up before you leave," she said woodenly. She had just made it to her bedroom door when she felt him spin her around and press her into the door frame. "Where are you going?" he murmured as he ran his lips across her collarbone, hands firmly planted on her hips. Her own had automatically gone up to push him away, but her brain had short circuited when his lips touched her so she was left grasping his shirt loosely. She dropped her head back on the frame and looked up at the ceiling. "I can't do this if you're marrying her tomorrow." "Who said I was marrying her?"

Casey felt her frustration growing. Had he lost his damn mind? It was literally five seconds ago that he had said that. He clicked his tongue. "Casey, Casey, Casey. I'm not going to marry her, I'm going to marry you, dumbass."

"Oh." And then again as it sank in, " _Oh._ " "I think ten years has been long enough, yeah? But if you really want we can wait."

She let out a long, warm laugh. "Derek, you have so much shit to figure out before we can get married. It'll be a miracle if we can do it in the next decade."

Somehow, they had managed to figure it all out in the span of six months. Derek broke up with Hannah (something that had not gone as well as he hoped it would. The words 'incestuous freak' had been thrown around more than he was comfortable with) and somehow managed to tell the family that the wedding was off. Everyone besides George was shocked (hey, he had known what would happen when he doled out his advice). He and Casey kept everything under wraps for another month before they were caught in a, erhm, compromising situation by Edwin, who proceeded to tell everyone else. They eloped in May and spent many, _many_ days playing hooky together.

"And that, kids, is how I singlehandedly got your parents together," George finished.


End file.
